Cheryl Dickow shares her top ten book list which includes health and fitness and fun fiction for the entire family.

by Cheryl Dickow | Source: Bezalel Books

Ten great books for Catholic homes and
classrooms.

Number one on my list is Memorizing
the Faith. Without a doubt this is the best non-fiction book I’ve read this year. Memorizing the Faith is written by
Kevin Vost and is a great book that helps build memory skills while also imparting a thorough
understanding of the faith. Vost is a gifted writer who taught about memory and demonstrated the use
of mnemonics for his college classes. This book takes the reader through a guided journey in which
different locations and areas of a home are used as mnemonic devices to memorize such things as the
gifts of the Holy Spirit and capital sins—to name a few. But Memorizing the Faith is really so
much more than that! It is a guided journey that also helps the reader learn better organization and
memory skills that can be applied to other areas of your life. Vost’s style is clever and
witty (Swiss cheese is used for one of the marks of the Church: holy). The chapters each end with
“Memory Master Tip and Facts” in which Vost shares incredibly interesting information
about such great thinkers as Aristotle, St. Albert and St. Thomas. Indeed, Memorizing the Faith is so rich in
information that you will quickly forget you are “working” at memorizing anything at
all—rather you will eagerly embrace each new chapter as an opportunity to grow in your faith
walk.

Number
two on my list is Bill Donohue’s Secular
Sabotage. This book takes a hard-core look at the secular
attacks that the Catholic Church constantly faces. It isn’t for the faint of heart and there
were times that I began crying while reading this book. It isn’t easy to read about the
purposeful desecration of a Church or a consecrated Host, and yet somehow I believe we all need to
be aware of the depth of attack that the Catholic Church is under. Donohue is a real champion
for the Catholic Church and has a job that I don’t envy one little bit—but I do feel
incredibly grateful to him and the work of the Catholic League.

Like everyone else,
Catholics are always concerned about health and fitness. Two books that totally complement each
other in this genre and are also faith-based—a real bonus if you think about it—are
numbers three and four on my list: Fit for Eternal
Life by Kevin Vost and The Rosary Workout by Peggy Bowes. I’m a huge
fan of Vost’s and Fit for Eternal
Life was actually the first book of his that I read. I was
hooked. Vost is a body-builder whose love of his Catholic faith permeates everything he does. His
complete understanding of the body as a temple to the Holy Spirit brings a depth to physical and
spiritual wholeness as he sheds light on how to develop both! While Vost focuses on the
weight-bearing, anaerobic aspect of physical health, The
Rosary Workout focuses on the aerobic aspect of physical
health, all the while developing the spiritual component through guided meditations. Bowes flew Air
Force jets for nine years before becoming a full-time wife and mother whose family sold all their
belongings and travelled the United States in an RV while she homeschooled. Tell me that isn’t
fascinating in and of itself! Bowes was recently featured on EWTN’s Journey Home
because of her compelling reversion story. Everything she has learned about health and faith fills
the pages of The Rosary Workout.

Number five on my list is Lorraine Murray’s delightful Death of a Liturgist. When I was a
young adult I was hooked on the Rabbi Small series written by Harry Kemelman. Years later I never
missed an episode of Murder, She Wrote starring Angela Lansbury. For me, that small-town,
quaint who-dunnit is the best escape I can imagine. This year I picked up a couple of other books in
this category but admit that Murray’s Death of a
Liturgist wins, hands-down, for the way in which she made
me want to have ice cream with Francesca and solve the mystery. At some point during my reading of
this wonderful book, I realized that my own church was probably the sort that was depicted in the
book as too “modern” yet I didn’t take it personal. I was able to chuckle at how
Murray nailed the “feel-good” atmosphere that sometimes pervades our Catholic liturgies.
Murray’s characters are just real enough to inculcate themselves into your life and yet
peculiar enough to not cause anxiety that they may, in fact, be you! What an incredibly delightful
mystery—great characters, setting and dialogue.

As I drew to a close
on Death of a Liturgist my only consolation was that Murray had actually written a book prior to it called
Death in the Choir. This book is number six on my list as I savor each page. Again, Murray’s ability to
capture “quaint” is down to an art and combined with a bit of a mystery, makes her my
favorite fiction writer this year!

Nancy Carabio Belanger has a real gem for kids with her award-winning book Olivia and the Little Way which is
number seven on my list. Having taught middle school for many years, I felt that this treasure
would be most appropriate for kids, mostly girls, in third through sixth grade. Having said that, as
Olivia, the main character, learns the “little way” of St. Therese, I found myself
learning – or revisiting – some important concepts of the value of “offering
things up” and the need to persevere and make good decisions. Like any well-written book for
kids, Belanger has believable characters in real-life sort of circumstances thus allowing the reader
discover skills through the ways in which the characters learn and grow. I loved how Belanger wrote
in Olivia’s disobedience to her parents by getting her ears pierced and felt it was an honest
depiction of the ways in which kids succumb to peer pressure. I am positive that this is the sort of
book that parents will love as much as their children will and would encourage Catholic teachers to
look into this treasure as well.

If Belanger’s book has great appeal to young Catholic girls, I would say that Patti
Maguire Armstrong’s book Dear God, I don’t get
it!, which makes my
list as number eight, would have a huge appeal to young Catholic boys. Where Belanger uses the life
of St. Therese as a role model, Armstrong’s delightful book uses saints as models as well, but
in a more comical way as the main character gets the brainy idea to make himself a hero—just
like the saints he has learned about in school. Armstrong, the mother of ten and best-selling author
of many other books, has much to offer the young reader. I’m guessing because
Armstrong’s kids have very well “been there, done that.” Dear God, I don’t get it!
would be a great addition to any Catholic home or classroom. Both these books (Belanger’s and
Armstrong’s) have charming black and white illustrations throughout which, when complementing
the great stories, makes the books true standouts. I guarantee that mom and dad will enjoy this book
as much as the kids!

Miriam
Ezeh wrote a tale of chaste love and right relationships that continues to stay with me years after
first reading it. Whenever I am asked to recommend a book for high-school aged student and adults,
The Story of Peace is my suggestion. Stan Williams, filmmaker and media expert whose company is Nineveh’s Crossing, has said that
The Story of Peace would make an excellent movie—and he is absolutely right. Ezeh has captured the lush
tropical feel of Africa in this tale of tribal war, vengeance and true love. It is a quick read
loaded with faith and the human condition with an ending that leaves you almost breathless.
The Story of Peace is the sort of book that can capture the hearts and minds of Catholic high-schoolers as well
as adults.

Number
ten on my list is one of the books on my shelf in which the pages literally are ragged because I
read it over and over again. Not so much as a whole book anymore but just to revisit some of the
passages that I have highlighted. It is called Finding the
Mystic Within You and is written by Peggy Wilkinson. This
book continues to remind me of my potential and even as I move slowly into my fifth decade, I love
how that makes me feel: that there is still so much more for me and God to explore in our
relationship. I love this book and though call it number ten, consider it a prized
possession.

Catholic
books really can be tools of evangelization while they entertain and I believe these books will all
be delightful additions to any Catholic home or classroom.

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